Answered Prayers
This article, Answered Prayers is a chapter in Bleach: Sun and Moon Chronicles. It details Shiju Shūdō's challenging of the Ōryū Temple in his attempt to become a master of the blade. ---- "Oh...that felt good." Shiju said after splashing his face with the water provided to him by the temple attendant. He then took a drink from a cup of water that was placed on the table for him, before putting it down and relieving his stress through a single deep breath. After the attendant had left to continue his duties, Shiju noticed the atmosphere of the temple to be rather...odd. He had visited several temples as a child but none were quite so empty. Moreover, even the staff here appeared to be on edge all the time. "Is something wrong?" Shiju questioned. In order to answer these questions, the young man stood up and proceeded to wander around the temple after taking off his . The general layout of the temple appeared to be more akin to an inn, albeit there was obviously a central shrine. The idol placed at the center was that of the and besides it was another idol of . "These idols..." Shiju thought to himself, before noticing the footsteps of another person. Unwilling to cause a commotion, Shiju placed his hands together and bowed in prayer, looking inconspicuous to the person who just arrived. Leaving the central shrine, what Shiju immediately noticed to his right was the sound of clashing swords. Or, more specifically, clashing . His suspicions grew to become reality and he smirked at the prospect. Rather than politely making his presence aware, Shiju opened the door to the sounds of swords clashing with a single swipe of his hand. While he thought that the people of the temple would be surprised, they did no more than sigh at his arrival. "Another one?" A man with a shaved head and broad physique stated. "Seems so." Another man with a leaner build and short, scruffy hair responded. Shiju, regardless of the whining that was brought about by his presence, remained calm. "So, this entire temple is a Warrior Temple, I take it?" He asked the others. "Obviously." The man who first commented answered his question. "Are you one of the hundreds who have come to challenge us?" "Seems so." Shiju smirked at the prospect. "Very well then." He acknowledged Shiju's attempt, albeit begrudgingly. He walked to his right, where a line of bokutō of varying sizes — reflecting the difference in sword sizes — were. "Which sword do you prefer using?" "Katana." Shiju stated, before being thrown a bokutō of that nature and catching it with his right hand. "Heh, let's go!" One of the more rambunctious members of the staff shouted. He was wielding a nodachi-length bokutō. Shiju's eyes glanced left at the man running towards him. He had no formal stance and wasn't even attempting to fight seriously, from the looks of it. The man held his sword with both arms and begun an overhead swing. Before it could even land close to Shiju, however, he pulled his arm to the right before suddenly shifting it towards the left. Even without looking at him directly, Shiju managed to calculate the appropriate distance and enabled his stab to connect flawlessly. The tip of Shiju's weapon came in contact with his opponent's torso and instantly blew him back, knocking him out due to the force behind the attack. "Is this really your skill level, worshipers of the sword?" Shiju taunted them, as he returned to a neutral stance, keeping his feet shoulder-width apart and placing his sword parallel to his waist while holding it with a single hand. "Come at me all at once, if you truly wish to prove your mettle!" Shiju exclaimed, his eyes lit with a certain seriousness unlike his previously comical attitude. The others in the room were quickly intimidated. Even without the assistance of Shiju's spiritual energy, the sheer magnitude of his suffused the room, provoking all the combatants to suddenly charge at Shiju's lone figure. Well, all except for one rather odd figure. "Oh? A sensible one?" Shiju briefly thought, before reverting his attention back to the mass of combatants approaching him. He dealt with them one at a time. The first one that came swung his sword haphazardly in all directions — except in Shiju's direction. Obviously in a panic, Shiju decided to rid him of his misery. He ducked down slightly, narrowly avoiding one of his overhead horizontal slashes and quickly jabbed his chest with the hilt of his blade, sending him and the man behind him to the ground. Towards Shiju's right and left were vertical slashes intent on exploiting Shiju's currently open position. Of course, Shiju would disallow this. Ducking down even further, he forced the two swordsmen to suddenly lose their timing, enabling him to swiftly leap upwards, using a single three hundred and sixty degree spinning slash to land a strike on both of their dominant arms, making them defunct for the rest of the battle. "Four done, two — no — three to go." Shiju noted. The last two of the simple opponents seemed to be calmer than the rest of the punks. One of them quickly dashed in with a straight lunge towards Shiju's torso. However, Shiju managed to dismantle the attack by performing a downwards slash onto the sword itself, causing it to snap in half. Without losing any momentum, he shifted the sword's direction upwards and made a strong slash towards the opponent's sword arm, quickly causing his resolve to crumble and thus leaving only one remaining. This one, however, disappeared from Shiju's sight — at least, for a moment. Shiju quickly heard footsteps and accordingly placed his sword behind his back, as if he were sheathing it, blocking the man's attempt at an assault from behind. The man attempted to break through Shiju's defense, but to no avail. Shiju's grip continued to cause his opponent to falter, before he finally let go and attempted to slash him once more. In that very moment, Shiju's entire body swerved to the left-hand side with incredible speed, using that very momentum to perform a slash strong enough that, when connected with the man's shoulder, completely blew him to the wall. "Well...that wasn't even a warm-up." Shiju groaned, looking towards the purple-haired man at the back. "Say, you any good?" He asked. "Perhaps." The man responded with a calm tone, the air between them filling the room with tension. "Before we begin, let us introduce ourselves formally. I am Mitsuki, the current Shūdō. It is a pleasure to meet you." "I am Shiju, student of Yoshiaki Hiroshi. Same here!" End